Musk: Yes, I said, short videos will destroy human civilization

Now everyone's free time is occupied by short videos, and whether they are men, women or children, whether in the classroom or in the subway, the most are people who watch short videos. But is this "nipple economy" really beneficial to us?

Some time ago, some foreign Twitter netizens threw out their opinions:

TikTok shorts are destroying human civilization

TikTok is the international version of Douyin, a product of ByteDance

There are two gentlemen on the left and right in the picture, and the gentleman on the left is very good at life experience, philosophy, physics, numbers, astronomy and other professional fields, and has received full marks, and can be called a real expert, but TikTok is seriously lagging behind.

The gentleman on the right, who looks like a fitness enthusiast (note the big yellow gold necklace around his neck), is the opposite, with all but a perfect score on TikTok.

Interestingly, this tweet also attracted Musk, the world's richest man, to share his views:

Musk replied:

I tried using TikTok, but found that the AI was exploring my brain, so I uninstalled it.

1. Is there anything wrong with short videos as a communication medium?

In the cognition of users, short videos are more often regarded as entertainment facilities by the general public, bringing users spiritual relaxation, pleasant experience, and satisfaction of emotional value.

You know, entertainment is an indispensable part of human daily life, imagine this:

I worked 12 hours a day in the electronics factory for 12 hours straight;

I moved bricks and mud 3,860 times a day on the construction site;

I held daily R&D meetings and battles with cross-department R&D in the company until 12 p.m., and there was still no schedule and conclusion;

After that, he dragged his physically and mentally exhausted body and moved home like a walking corpse.

Lying on the soft bed, I want to watch a short video to relax the tense day;

Is that wrong?

NO , Of course not .

It's like you're running 5KM in the park on a hot day, and you're in a good mood with a whole bottle of cold Coke.

Essentially, it's no different from listening to a song, watching a movie, watching a variety show, or playing a game.

Especially on the road of my pursuit of entertainment to death, short videos also play a multiplier effect with half the effort, no beginning, no process, no foreshadowing, only climax, only reversal, only fascinating.

SO, Dawei believes that there is nothing wrong with the short video itself, and even it is not fundamentally different from the story clubs, readers, and bosom friends that once existed like a storm.

It is all to add some pleasant spices and endless joy to the people who have experienced "loneliness, loneliness and cold" in the long night, so as to temporarily get rid of the dull and bitter life.

That's all, is that wrong?

二、But，You are what you read

Back in the distant year 1786, there was an American named Benjamin Franklin, who lamented:

"The American people are so obsessed with lace newspapers and pamphlets that they don't have time to read them."

However, nowadays, short videos have replaced the lace newspapers and pamphlets that were popular at the time.

At the same time, the short video superimposed with the precise recommendation mechanism seems to have some kind of magic, allowing you and me to indulge in it, frantically occupying all the fragmented time of the day that is already limited and making people unable to extricate themselves without knowing it.

Short videos are like black holes of time and are devouring the world, aren't they?

Of course, this is not my words, it is supported by data.

According to the data of the "2023 China Online Audiovisual Development Research Report", the average daily usage time of short videos has reached an astonishing average of 168 minutes, about 2.5 hours:

Wodi horses, thorns are not irritating.

was originally used for eating, watching short videos.

It was originally used for lunch breaks, and I watched short videos.

It was originally used to sit in the car, and watched short videos.

The time that was originally used for running, watching short videos.

Originally, it was used to read books and watch short videos.

It was originally used to study time, watching short videos.

In "Entertainment to Death," writer Mr. Postman concludes that television is inherently user-friendly.

The same goes for short videos.

What is user-friendly?

Anyone, at any time, any work/content/column, all users are treated equally, and users can experience everything with the same qualifications.

This means that it doesn't require any prerequisites, no abilities, no skills.

Whether you are a white-collar worker, a factory girl, a security guard, an investor, a worker or even a 3-year-old child, you can experience it without barriers.

Note that it is "seeing", not "reading".

"Reading" text requires thinking, while "watching" does not, and does not allow you to do even a little bit of thinking and resting, because the endless stream of popular content in the feed will make you overwhelmed, dazzled, and dizzy.

For adults who already have a sound three views and judgment, it doesn't hurt to brush a few minutes a day.

But when we receive, obsess, and indulge in this kind of brainwashing, low-intelligence, vulgar, and non-nutritious fast-food trivial content every hour, every moment, every minute, and every second, it is bound to imperceptibly invade our already not very smart brains.

In the long run, we will inevitably lose our ability to think and judge, and especially become extremely impatient with any relatively complex information that requires even a little more cognition and effort to understand.

If you're used to a 1-minute, 3-reversal short drama, you won't be able to enjoy a 2-3 hour movie that will shock your soul in peace.

If you're used to reading 10 world classics in 5 minutes, you'll lose patience and stop savoring a classic that requires dozens of hours of dedicated reading.

So, you see, the mainstream content of short videos now is sauce-style:

You only need to give the blogger 5 minutes, and he can read all the world classics accumulated over the past 2,000 years from the birth of Jesus to the present, and ChatGPT has to be really proficient.

No one cares about the process, no one cares about the cause, and no one wants to listen to you tell you about the cause and effect, and people are only interested in the conclusive "headline".

If you think about it, isn't this the Frankenstein Syndrome mentioned in "The Passing of Childhood"?

After humans create robots and other machines with certain capabilities, they have their own ideas, and they can not only change people's habits, but also change human thinking habits.

Isn't that what short videos are all about?

The short and fast content carried by short videos does have a subtle and profound impact on the structure of human thought or cognitive ability that you are not aware of, and our consciousness structure will be reshaped to match its short and fast content.

As a Frenchman Pascal put it:

"Man is nothing but a reed, the most fragile thing in nature, but he is a thinking reed".

You see, Musk's Tesla is accelerating the world's transition to sustainable development, and short videos are accelerating the continuous reedification of mankind.

And it's a big deal.

In fact, as early as 2 years ago, at the 9th China Internet Audiovisual Conference, a vice president of Tencent had already mentioned that short videos bring more negative feedback to the world, if you still have an impression:

You like pig food, all you see is pig food and nothing else.

The short video of the short video of low-intelligence and vulgar brainwashing will affect the mind for a long time, you like pig food, and when you see it, it is all pig food.

However, considering the environment and context at the time, as well as the identity of the vice president, I suspect that there is another reason for this:

Tencent's short video strategy was not very successful at the time,Whether it's Weishi or the fledgling video account,It is true that we haven't found the right way to open it,There is still a slight gap with Shake Kuai,There may be some people who can't eat grapes and say that grapes are sour。

But David agrees.

3. Information cocoon

Further, what I want to express is that the horror behind this is not short videos, but the consequences of the information cocoon caused by the accurate recommendation mechanism.

Alexis de Tocqueville: The information cocoon refers to the phenomenon that people's information field is habitually guided by their own interests, so that their lives are shackled in a "cocoon" like a silkworm cocoon.

Thanks to accurate recommendations, although we are physically in the same world in reality, our minds are in a completely different world.

You feel like you're getting all sorts of new information every day, when in fact, all you get is the content and even the ideas you want.

Not only short video platforms, but all platforms have learned to use your static tags (such as mobile phone, city, gender, etc.), dynamic tags (habits, preferences), and behavior tags (clicks, stay time), coupled with an efficient and surprisingly accurate recommendation mechanism, to instantly complete algorithm recovery and feedback, instantly correct your portrait, match what you want and like, and realize the two-way flow between content and you.

Even now even the "comment area" is a personalized recommendation (that is, the same video content, everyone sees a completely different comment content) to achieve a precise attack on the target audience.

Don't say it, just like the "stupid X resonance theory" summarized by a genius netizen, it's really in place:

In the past, there was a stupid X within a radius of ten kilometers, but now the stupid X in Tokyo, the stupid X in Xijing, the stupid X in Beijing and the stupid X in Nanjing, the mountains and rivers meet the bosom friend and realize the silly X resonance.

Fourth, the embankment of thousands of miles collapsed in the anthill

Some time ago, an Internet celebrity under Brother Xiao Yang overturned with goods.

What do I think, you ask?

I'm just like you, watching it through a short video.

But on the one hand, I personally think that this kind of low content is an important means for influencers to gain traffic, and even "high-quality" content that caters to the tastes of the greatest common divisor at all costs.

You know, what kind of fan or audience exists, we will actively or compulsorily create something that they like.

Yes, fans are also reverse-shaping creators.

This is why some people say that the content on the short video platform reflects the overall cognitive foundation of the people outside the Fifth Ring Road, and this is precisely the majority of our whole.

On the other hand, it is "possible" that Internet celebrities have no bottom line in the live broadcast room and win eyeballs.

Mind you, I said "possibly".

It's no surprise that you can expect them to create high-value, elite content?

不是他不想,而是 Garbage in Garbage out .

Internet celebrity education

Is this a step backwards in some sense, if the level of cognition is a culture?

What about music?

For example, according to the number of times I have taken the online celebrity car (that is, I commute to work twice a day), 80% of the music listened to by online ride-hailing drivers can be summed up in three words:

DJ style, social shake, 007 on the dance floor

These users are highly overlapping with the main crowd of short videos and short dramas, and similarly, these users are also reversely shaping the creator's music works.

Let's take a look at the annual pop charts of short videos.

Let's take a look at the pop music charts from more than a decade ago.

Not only is the melody of the music relatively superior, but even the artistic conception conveyed by the lyrics is beyond the reach of current saliva songs.

Jiang Yuheng's "Looking Back Again" sang: I once asked questions repeatedly in the dark and secret, only to know that plain and calm is the truth.

And "Learn to Meow" sings: Let's learn to meow together, meow together.

Jay Chou's "The Secret That Can't Be Said" sings: The most beautiful thing is not a rainy day, but the eaves that have escaped the rain with you.

And "Love Like Fire" sings: The heart is beating, love is like fire, you are laughing, the crazy person is me.

Is this a step backwards in some sense, if music is a culture?

It's not just music, I don't know where the rules come from, and I can't even talk casually.

In short videos or live broadcast rooms, certain Chinese characters can't appear, anyway, they can't let you speak well.

For example, money can't be said about money, you have to say rice;

Tmall has to say a certain cat, Taobao has to say a certain treasure, WeChat has to say a certain letter,

The live broadcast room can't be said to be the live broadcast room, but it has to be said to be between the waves;

Now we can't even say "soldiers who surrender without a fight".

In the long run, you're afraid you'll not even have to learn a new language.

Is this a step backwards in a sense, if our Chinese characters are a culture?

When the level of cognition and the surrounding environment are regressing, the collapse of culture is also inevitable.

Well, that being said, and it seems to be.

Boss Liu's deep thoughts on short videos

Isn't it?

Fifth, when the youth is strong, China is strong

I believe that you, like me, have seen more than once in public places the "teenager group" who are still weak in screening and judgment and immature in mind are constantly watching short videos.

Even some parents took the initiative to show him a short video in order not to make their beloved baby noisy.

Imagine what kind of worldview, values, and outlook on life our teenagers would shape every day under the subtle influence of worthless and uneven good and bad content, and even adults find it difficult to distinguish between the good and the bad.

How will they be positioned and developed in the future?

Is it a dream to be a sensational and unscrupulous Internet celebrity for traffic?

Of course, you can refute me, and naively and romantically think: you can also learn and progress under the [youth mode] of short videos, you can also learn to memorize English words, you can also learn physical chemistry, and you can also listen to university open classes online.

I can only reply "definitely" three times in a row:

Yes, yes, yes!

Of course, maybe we don't need so many high-end talents at all.

After all, we can use Moutai, a technology company with a gross profit of up to 90%, to beat Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Google, ChatGPT, Tesla, and Nvidia in all evil capitalist countries.

No rebuttal accepted!

Q: Child, what is your dream when you grow up?

A: Be an influencer.

Speaking of restricting teenagers' addiction to short videos, some time ago, the Vietnam Broadcasting and Electronic Information Administration announced the results of a survey on TikTok (Douyin International Version) (of course, there may be a political factor here):

6. Entertainment to death

Why not just ban short videos to count balls?

看看，你 To Yong To Sample 了吧。

Nipple theory, let's understand first:

This time it was an American, named Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was the US National Security Adviser. Just listen to the title, you know that it is not a good friend of our ordinary people.

He observed that because 80% of the wealth in society is controlled by 20% of the people, and the gap between the rich and the poor is getting wider and larger, the class conflict is easy to occur in the long run.

So how to deal with it effectively?

He suggested that one of the most effective ways to circumvent class conflict is to have corporations produce a lot of "teats" that divert the attention and discontent of 80% of the poor and make them completely addicted to entertainment.

Let the poor love madly love the inescapable fate.

Of course, I do not deny that the birth of short videos has brought and is bringing more possibilities to the world.

You know, even if there is no short video, which is currently the most efficient medium for information dissemination, there will be other forms.

In fact, I love the "pig food" on the short video as much as anyone else who reads this article.

The key is to be an independent and rational individual:

Learn how to effectively sift through the information that comes to you every day.

Learn how to avoid the consequences of information cocooning caused by accurate recommendations.

Learn how to increase the value conversion rate per unit of time in fragmentation.

Personally, I am still accustomed to choosing to obtain relatively valuable information through traditional graphic carriers such as WeChat and news clients, rather than short videos.

7. When an avalanche occurs, no snowflake is innocent

This sentence has a profound meaning, and it was said by a Frenchman, his name was Voltaire.

Let's go back to the diagram at the beginning:

I'm sure you've noticed, and what's even more ironic is that the media interviews and popularity in front of the two gentlemen on the left and right in the picture also form a stark contrast:

There are many microphones in front of Internet celebrities and few microphones in front of experts.

After all, even a rational enough god will prefer entertainment content to boring expertise.

Therefore, Internet celebrities who are only good at short videos have gained overwhelming attention, traffic and victory from the media.

If you think it's a success.

Does this mean that it is not only himself who creates an Internet celebrity, but also the media that wants to get traffic, the brainwashed users, and the platforms that fuel the fire, and ultimately leads to the entire social ecology gradually participating in it and enjoying it.

If you think it's a national.

Well, maybe there will be no more "The Shawshank Redemption" in the future, and there will be no more "The Godfather", with and only 15 seconds of brainless segments.

If you think it's a literary creation.

八、Be better

Finally, as an amateur "blogger with goods", I also have to recommend some books to my family:

1) "Entertainment to Death":

Neil Postman's "Entertainment to Death", although this book was written in the 80s, uses television media as an example, but the author in the book has made a lot of evidence and severe criticism of the social culture brought by television media (which does not affect the understanding of the original text) and worries about the extinction of human thought and civilization.

Seeing that the ripple effect of short videos is even worse today than it was then, Neil Postman would have to stand up and toast the leader if he was still alive.

Oh no, I'm going to have to beat my chest and stay up at night.

2) "Low IQ Society":

If it's not enjoyable, I recommend a Japanese writer Kenichi Ohmae's "Low IQ Society":

3) "Brave New World" and "1984":

These are two dystopian novels that are not so obscure to read, and they are described as two extreme opposites that you deserve to have.

OK, family, let's just sauce, I'm going to watch a short video.

Reference Links:

1.Neil Postman,《娱乐至死》

2. Wu Yiyi, "Douyin Divine Comedy, Disappeared?"

3. The Past by the Slot, "I Still Want to Hit People"

Columnist

This article was originally published by Everyone is a product manager and is prohibited from reprinting without the author's permission.

The title image is from Unsplash and is licensed under CC0.